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Rory's recheck neuro exam! :)

On Tuesday, Rory had a neuro exam recheck. It's been almost 7 months since his decompression surgery for Syringomyelia. He's been doing reallly well, but I was still worried about how his recheck would go.

It went great!!! Before the surgery, he had started showing neurological deficits in his back legs which we could test by putting his paw upside down (top on the ground) and waiting for him to sense the incorrect positionn and flip it. He had delayed reaction in his back legs before the surgery. On Tuesday, he only had "equivocal" (meaning, the neurologist couldn't even get the same repeatable reaction every time) delay on his back right leg!!! meaning -- he is either no worse, or better than he was before!! I am just sooooo happy. He is ALMOST neurologically normal!!

Of course, there's still the chance of relapse, but I am just so happy that he is doing so well right now. He is on gabapentin (neurontin) and furosemide (lasix), both of which really really help. A couplee neurologist said they tend to see the dogs rellapse around 6 -8 months, so I'm still on guard for the next few months, especially. But I am very very glad that I went through with the surgery and that I did it early on right when I first noticed the neurological deficits, and before he got too bad.

Also - this same neurologist heard a "maybe 1/6 murmur" before the surgery and tuesday he couldn't hear anything! Yippee!!

Thanks again to everyone here who has been there for me during thsi whole thing. There were a few months that were really really tough and I couldn't have done it without the support and prayers of everyone here. So, thank you all. It means soooo much.

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.
--Roger Caras

This is just such fantastic news and both he and you are so deserving of such good tidings -- you've had so many uncertain moments too since the surgery, waiting to see if he would stabilise and improve, and being afraid he had gotten worse... what a welcome report this is!

thanks, all!! I'm just so happy that he has maintained so well and I just hope he can continue to do this well for a while so I can enjoy his joyful company for years to come! it's so much more than I ever would have hoped for 8 months ago...

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.
--Roger Caras